Authenticity & Stress
Perhaps the most divisive event to come between two people, or between an individual and a group, is, oddly enough, normal healthy maturation of the individual's consciousness. The other party is very unlikely to embark on this journey. Instead, they typically cling even tighter to "conservative values" and tend to "shun" the individual who is moving on to - for them - a deeper, more meaningful relationship with ultimate reality.
For some of us, life's too short & precious to keep gagging on simplistic party-line slogans. How long can one tolerate parking their brain at the door to blend in? Some of us must have the freedom to explore the deepest level of understanding of reality. Btw, isn't this how all major religions & their offshoots started?
"The small man builds cages for everyone he knows. While the sage keeps dropping keys all night long for the beautiful, rowdy prisoners." Hafiz
As one who once espoused very conservative political & religious values (slogans & all), I fully appreciate the conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical position. If your current conservative religious practice feels deeply authentic & wise - fantastic - enjoy!
However, deeply entrenched conservative values often means, at best, praying for hellbound "infidels", including "liberals" who've "lost faith" (as the Pharisees probably prayed for Jesus). There are billions who are at least as spiritual / religious as fundamentalists (of any sect), yet have a very different take on ultimate reality. Diversity is healthy, inevitable, something to celebrate, understand, appreciate & respect. Huston Smith is an inspiring exemplar: Dana Sawyer “Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper. Living the World’s Religions. The Authorized Biography of a 21st Century Spiritual Giant.” Fons Vitae, KY, 2014.
“Whether we recognize it or not, each one of us has a central sacred question around which our lives circle. It may be apparently abstract, such as, ‘What is truth?’ or ‘What is wisdom?’ Or it may be eminently practical, such as, ‘How can I learn to love?’ ‘How can I best contribute to others?’ ‘What is my gift to the world?’ Whatever the question, how passionately we pursue and live it in large part determines how fully and wholeheartedly we live and how peacefully and contentedly we die.
Stress may be as much a question of a compromise of values as it is a matter of external time pressure and fear of failure.”
Walsh R. "Essential spirituality. The 7 central practices to awaken heart and mind." John Wiley & Sons Inc, NY, 1999.
"Authentic spiritual traditions, practices, or disciplines are psychotechnologies designed to train, tame, transform & transcend the mind." Roger Walsh MD, PhD
